SPRING NOTES: The $400 million behind a message for Sandoval; Posey hits the cage

They are four veterans with four different body types: Matt Cain, Hunter Pence, Buster Posey and Marco Scutaro. But they all had the same message for the player who is bigger than any of them.

You’re better than this.

That was the tone set last season, when veterans encouraged Sandoval to get in shape and reach his potential. The conversations were said to be positive, and that’s always a good tactic with the fun-loving Panda. It’s not hard to imagine the conversations being direct, too, especially if finances came up. Sandoval might have more raw talent than any player in the clubhouse, but it’s Posey who is the $167-million face of the franchise, Cain who is the $127-million ace and Pence who signed a $90 million deal as he approached free agency. Even Scutaro cashed in with a $20 million deal, easily the biggest of his career.

Manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged the elephant in the room during his media session, pointing out that Sandoval will likely be a free agent this fall. If that’s what led to all this, the Giants don’t care … all they’re looking for is the player who hit .330 with 25 homers as a 22-year-old. Sandoval said he isn’t thinking about the contract, instead crediting the previously mentioned veterans and others for setting him straight.

Advertisement

“With Pablo, I was always trying to be encouraging with him,” Cain said. “I just tried to encourage him with it. He was doing a lot of work and sometimes it’s hard to make a lot of changes during the season. In the offseason it’s the best time for it to happen. I think he’s done a great job with that and he looks great. You can see it in his face, he just seems excited about coming out. He’s always excited but you can see that extra energy, he’s ready to get it going. I think he’s pumped to see how it turns out.”
Cain can identify with Sandoval a bit, having dealt with his own conditioning issues early in his career.

“It’s not easy sometimes, you have a lot of really good food that — if you enjoy eating, and I enjoy eating — you’ve got to pay attention to (your weight),” Cain said. “It’s not easy.”

It won’t be easy during the season, either. There will be nagging injuries that limit the time spent on an exercise bike and nights when the room service menu glows from across the room.

“This has to become a consistent thing,” Bochy said of Sandoval’s new physique. “Every day.”

The Giants are hopeful that Sandoval is consistent on and off the field. But just in case, Cain, who got off to a slow start last year, had a message for those who will be obsessing over box scores in early April.

“You know what, if (Sandoval) doesn’t start out the season the way he wants and somebody says, ‘Oh it’s going to be because he lost weight …’ ” Cain said, shaking his head. “He’s going to be fine. He’s got tremendous talent and we’re just pumped about what he’s going to do this year.”

— More from Cain, Posey and Pence can be found in my full Sandoval story, posted here soon. Some good quotes there, but here’s your quote of the day:

Pence on being here when pitchers/catchers reported: "I don't really have a home. It's just wherever I can get ready for baseball."

— We had actual baseball (kinda) today. For those dealing with snow back east or overseas (shoutout to my Twitter follower in England!) here’s that Buster Posey dude hitting a baseball. Also on that page, a video of prospects Clayton Blackburn and Edwin Escobar (they’re the two on the right).

Pablo doesn’t look as lean as the LAST time he did this. Maybe that’s a good thing. – maybe this time it will “stick”.

channelclemente

Pence, the Ronin of MLB.

SurfCity

Interesting thought. Yeah I sort of noticed that too. And I think maybe he’s smart to not mention the exact weight number. Because then people will want to be constantly checking it. Although I thought he heard he was going to announce it at spring training. Anyway, minor matter.

DrLefty

Totalfan62 was talking about Giants’ first-round picks, and I just saw a brief piece on another one, Tim Alderson. He was drafted in the same 2007 first round as Bumgarner, about 20 picks later, and at one point, he was moving faster through the system than Bum was. Alderson was traded for Freddy Sanchez in 2009, and some fans were queasy about that at the time–did Sabean pick the right prospect to deal and the right one to keep?

The piece was about how Alderson, now 25, is going to his FIRST major league camp (with the Orioles). The rest, of course, is history–Bum, who made his big-league debut later in 2009 and came to the majors to stay at age 20, is a two-time World Series winner, an All-Star, and has won 50 major league games before his age-24 season.

Michael Scott

And there was much doubt about MadBum when he came up in 2009 and then his spring in 2010. He had lost a lot of velocity as 2009 wore on and then had terrible ST in 2010. I don’t know about here but many wanted Penny re-signed as the 5 starter for 2010.As it turned out, it was a mechanics issue with MadBum and he came up for good in mid-2010 and maybe was the postseason MVP just for forcing Bochy’s hand to leave Zito off the playoff roster.

totalfan62

That class of 2007 was supposed to be a big haul for us. Six picks in the top 50, including #10 (Bum). As Lefty notes, Alderson was another first round pick (along with Wendell Fairley, who I don’t think ever made an MLB roster). The others were Thomas Neal (traded to Cleveland for O.Cabrera in ’11), Jackson Williams (Fresno backup?), Nick Noonan and Charlie Culbertson (traded for Scutaro). Well, Bum and FSanchez were big parts of our first WSC so I guess we should be happy.

totalfan62

If Pablo hits like 2009 Pablo and stays in the five hole, that is a very dangerous lineup. An in shape Pablo should give us .900 OPS and lengthen the lineup.

totalfan62

Not to mention “the blockbuster” in 2012!

ClutchUp

Since I sat at Stanford losing to Rice yesterday at the sunken diamond. This below is to the Rice MOM who travelled with the team to see her son play and couldn’t “shut-it” for even five minutes LOL.

Pablo has had the two hamates as we know and one/two Lasik’s. His vision is a huge item going forward to help his strike zone discipline or PABLO’s hitting zone discipline since he really doesn’t have an actual strike zone. It wont be easy. Good hitters are “Hitting Untlil They Say No” – and Pablo’s “hitting” from his time in the on deck circle.

NoShame09

That was an awesome bat flip by hector…

channelclemente

Sandoval doesn’t look like a ‘hitter’ with the classic swing. He seems to get his power from his wrists and forearms. That’s that guy from Detroit’s take on it anyway.

ClutchUp

What is the AUDIO that goes with the TOUT feed vids? Weird?

DrLefty

That’s right–the Giants had Penny for the last month of 2009, and he pitched quite well for them–parleyed that into a big contract with the Cardinals–for a lot more than the Giants wanted to pay for a fifth starter, then or now.

Bum not only was a top-10 pick but also was ridiculously good in the minors. In 2009, he started in San Jose; he finished the year in SF. I’m really glad they didn’t block him with Penny!

DrLefty

We all remember how good the Giants’ pitching was in 2010 (best in MLB), but it was also outstanding in 2009 (second-best in NL), leading the way to 88 wins that year.

The main four starters (29-33 starts each) were Zito, Cain, Lincecum, and Sanchez. The remaining starts were divided among five different pitchers. Who were they?

Also, which team finished first in the NL in ERA that year?

The Oracle

Mulder’s comeback attempt is over for now…ruptured Achilles.

Michael Scott

If I understand you correctly, many folks don’t grasp what you seem to- Pablo has his own strike zone. The shoe tops are in his strike zone and a foot outside is in his zone. It’s when he strays from his *his* zone that he has trouble. If he had a “traditional” SZ, we would be talking about that fat guy who used to be in the bigs …if he had even made it that far..
IMO.

Michael Scott

I’m not as fast at googlin’ as I used to be. I’ll await the answer…

ClutchUp

Ouch….those are bad…. Al Attles and many more ….

Ask Bapah!

Michael Scott

That’s a tough break for a classy guy. And going back to Lefty’s comments about Alderson, I’d love for him to make it in the pen for somebody. A few other one time prospects of the Giants ended up having nice careers that way.

Matthew

I grew up a Giants fan…I have always loved this team. For my entire childhood, I had my heart broken by late September. I was convinced they were the best, and they seemed to finish second every year. I got older, and stuck with them through it all…along came those kids you gotta love…Robby, Matt, Will, Jose…and I had that childhood hope…and then October heartbreak…
So, I continued to have trust issues. I still believed in them with all my heart, but…

That is the backdrop for 2010 and then 2012… Just like so many of you. As a husband and dad, and full adult, I cried when Wilson punched out Cruz… I was in awe when Pablo crushed 3 in game 1 of 2012 WS…so you would think by now I would have trust.

When 2013 came, I was disappointed in Pablo! and lost that fragile trust I had started to have in him. I WANT to trust him…and, even though we now have two recent World Series titles, that nagging memory of distrust is, well, nagging again about him.

I’m sorry, Pablo.. I should be so happy with the “new you”… But I grew up a Giants fan, and I remember 2011 and how I believed! and I saw 2013 and lost that trust. Please, make this be real.

For the Giants! It only seems right we should have the third member of The Big Three…we’ve already had Zito and Hudson.

DrLefty

Yep. I think I could have come up with all of them except maybe Martinez, but once I saw the stats, I remembered–he got hit in the head early in the season.

As for the Dodgers, I was surprised, but I guess it makes sense when you consider they won the NL West that year. Their main starters were Billingsley (one of his best years), Kershaw, Randy Wolf, and Hiroki Kuroda. Even a couple starts from Jason Schmidt.

To me the “trust issue” is just knowing how hard it can be for many people to break bad habits and to keep up good ones. One of my dearest friends is a recovering alcoholic. She had a horrible relapse about seven years ago and ended up in rehab–just a month or so before her only child’s high school graduation. I remember her telling me later: “Don’t feel bad that you didn’t see it coming. I hid it from you. I hid it from everyone.”

A “relapse” for someone who struggles with weight is harder to hide, of course, but obviously there’s a mental/emotional component to food/eating issues. Look at Oprah. She’s richer than God and can afford all the trainers and chefs she would need. Yet she’s yo-yo’ed up and down for decades with us all watching.

This is not to make excuses for Pablo–or to bash him, either. Just to acknowledge that bad habits/addictions are hard to break. You can mean well and have all the motivation in the world and still slip. So I believe him when I say he’s serious this time. But I also know he may not be able to sustain it, despite his good intentions.

channelclemente

I’d adopt the attitude, it’s all gravy from here on out. As a matter of fact, I did. Win or lose, just watch and enjoy.

Michael Scott

I remember Sadowski because he reminded me of Burkett. I know it’s simple, but a sinker has to sink. It stopped doing that often enough for Sadowski and a few hundred other guys like him.

channelclemente

Alex, any news on Law?

DrLefty

I remember the chain of events. Sanchez was stinkin’ up the joint, but Martinez had already been injured. Durty was sent to the bullpen, and up came Sadowski, who had a couple great starts in late June/early July; it was quite a story. Came out of nowhere. Then Randy Johnson hurt his back swinging a bat, of all things, and Durty had to come out of the bullpen on a few days notice and take his start–just in time for his father’s first visit to AT & T Park. July 10, 2009–the start he would never have made if not for the Big Unit’s injury. After the no-hitter, he settled in and pitched pretty well the rest of the year.

Sadowski’s Cinderella story struck midnight, but the Giants were still in the hunt for the NL wild card at the end of August–so they signed Penny, who really had a nice September for them. MadBum got thrown into the mix for one start because Timmy had a back thing and was a last-minute scratch.

DrLefty

Burkett’s worked for a lot longer, though! Still remember Burkett and Swift in 1993.

Bapah

Piece of cake; nothing to it. Just a scratch, a flesh wound, really, hardly felt a thing.

Michael Scott

I’ve loved teams that lost a hundred, won a hundred, and everything in between. It’s been gravy since the first time I saw Forbes Field 59 years ago. There are dozens of thrills in even the darkest years. I think it’s easy to forget that in one of those dark years. Watching a baseball game is one of the best three hours of any day as far as I’m concerned.
Great post, Matthew.

Vegas Giants Fan

You have a very good memory. I was lucky enough to be off the night of Sanchez’s no-hitter and was able to watch the game on the Padres broadcast. Great job by Sanchez and Eli Whiteside.

2009 was a fun year because nobody expected the Giants to contend. The one thing I most remember was towards the end of the season and the Giants were still in it national writers and broadcasters were saying the one team no one wanted to face in the playoffs were the Giants because of their pitching.(sorry for the run-on sentence) This came true the next season.

DrLefty

I think gravy is what Matthew’s worried about. Biscuits and gravy, sausage and gravy, chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy…

Also a great post, Michael. “Best three hours of any day–” I like that. My husband said recently “Baseball’s like a friend.” Part of the rhythm, especially of the summer.

Foothills Ryan

yeah but how’s the rent/mortgage?

DrLefty

Yes, I think that’s why I remember 2009 so clearly–it was fun and a surprise, and I was more invested than I’d been probably since around 2002-03.

I was at a great game that year–right at the end of August. It was Randy Johnson bobblehead day in honor of his 300th win. The Giants were playing the Rox and going for a four-game sweep that would put the two teams in a flat-footed tie for the wild card. Cain started, but they got in a hole and Edgar Renteria hit a dramatic grand slam to put them ahead in the seventh. Right down the left field line. We were sitting around section 208 and could it see it the whole way!

Foothills Ryan

You are making me hungry, senorita!

Foothills Ryan

oh man – i think arm injury he could accept, but this !

Foothills Ryan

The Big Sadowski.

channelclemente

I had the ‘tingles’ of my former Cubs fantasy of winning when I watched that clip of Ernie Banks hobbling out on a stage at Wrigley with Pearl Jam at a concert rain delay last summer. No boos, who’s this, just 70-80,000 Chicagoans screaming for just a shot at it and singing that silly song Eddy Vedder wrote about the Cubs yearnings. I didn’t know he was a Cubs loony toon. We Giants fans should give thanks for all Jobu has brought us the last few years.

Damn I love baseball, all of it, win or lose.

Foothills Ryan

Those two were great ! The last two 20 game winners on one team for Giants , I strongly believe.

As someone said, and I might be paraphrasing: “Prejudice against the obese is the last ‘acceptable’ prejudice.”
Some folks can look at food and gain weight. If Pablo had adopted Timmy’s erstwhile diet, he’d weigh 520. And as you say, “bad habits/addictions are hard to break”. My goodness, look at all the celebrity deaths- beautiful and wealthy people who have died far too young from drink, drugs, and/or dangerous “thrills”. Wouldn’t one think that a rich and famous person would never throw it away just like homeless junkies do? One would be wrong.

William Henri

No doubt about it!! Gravy forever- enjoy the game and our winners

Foothills Ryan

If anybody deserves a trip to spring training, it’s you.

ClutchUp

Lol

Matthew

True, CC…Louis loves biscuits!

channelclemente

Did folks know that a lot of those headlands are protected as green cemetery in perpetuity? This is a special place.

channelclemente

I know longer travel well, or otherwise, and I’m cautious when I read William Burroughs, especially out loud.

Michael Scott

I think Law has been disorderly.

Foothills Ryan

Well, if you could travel to one more destination in your life, where would it be?

SurfCity

I’m sorry we have to stop now.
We’ll take this up at next week’s session.
That’ll be $135 please!

Matthew

Now, that’s funny! Well played, Surfer boy

2holehitting

There in lies the difference of expectations. Sandoval burst
on the seen and showed how good he could be. He was 22 when that happened with
power and average. People have looked for that ever since. Last year he was 26 hit
279 with 14 Jacks and drove in 76 runs while
Posey Scutero and Blanco had terrible second half seasons.

But you all are
elated by a 3rd year 25 year old veteran that hits a career best 289
17 homers and 65 RBI’s and stikes out 1
in every 4 at bats while healthy all season. Most of that dmage was a 2 month
period. The rest of the year, quite mediocre even downright terrible that lead
to his benching for several games.

If you get a foot injury, you can not do the leg work or the
conditioning needed. If you have an arm injury, you can not do the upper body
work. If you like to eat, that becomes a double whammy as you do not regulate
at a young age..

I hurt my knee playing pickup softball after work when I
was 25. I was 175 at the time. Less
than 3 months later I ballooned to 225.
I was not eating anymore food than prior. I just could not do all the exercise I did before my knee injury. I have never gotten back
to the 175 and the best I got to was 190.

I like Pablo, you guys rode him last year even though his
performance was better than certain others like the guy first mentioned in the
frst half and the MVP in the second half and yes he was playing better than
Pence for a while.

Perceptions and expectations should be tempered. He is far
better than many other options at 3rd.

channelclemente

He’s just a kid, he missed the other ‘D’. But in celebration of Lincoln and Darwin’s birthday, I’m going to help him out tomorrow, a lay down some Irish legal theory.

2holehitting

I thought the Giants had the best pitching staff that year in 2009. They had 3 Cy Young award winners and Cain who I have always looked at as the next Gregg Maddux. I expected them to make the playoffs. I just did not expect that their offense was so bad that year.

Michael Scott

Yea it did- Burkett’s, as you say. I think that’s the toughest style to be effective consistently. A guy with average stuff has to fool ’em or, toughest of all- throw balls that look like strikes.

Foothills Ryan

Burkett was also a world class bowler, so I recall.

Matthew

You’ll feel better some year when the Cubs win.

What does Belt got to do with it?

channelclemente

Ever since I saw that old movie Russia House, I’ve wanted to see the northern, Celtic region of Portugal.

And yet poor Salomon Torres ended up pitching with the NL West on the line.

Foothills Ryan

Looks like a good place to disappear and write a book.

Michael Scott

We used to go to spring training when the Twins did. We moved to Minnesota when my Dad got the Twins’ job ( he had never done baseball, he did a simulated one and Cal Griffith hired him from the tape). And Pop never had an agent , Griffith was a tightwad -well, the outcome was what you would expect.

Anyway, we went to Florida with the team. Us kids went to school down there for a couple months. I could only catch the games on the weekends. School was torture. But camp was much different back then. Very leisurely in the stands, small crowds, a lot of guys with betting stubs falling out their pockets, likker on their breath, and really digging it all. It was a heckler’s paradise because the players could hear it all. A really good heckler was loud but never mean. Well, maybe mean but no Mom stuff. A good one was *really*funny, the target’s teammates would laugh. Even the target sometimes.
Some of those guys could have made a living on the Borscht Belt…

Michael Scott

It was just an “epic fail” of an attempt at “Law and Order” humor. Speaking of crime, I forget who first talked about it, but I caught my first episode of “True Detective” last night. Some of the best work from both leads.
Terrific stuff.McConaughey was a revelation Then I read a little of a bio and he was born for the role..

Michael Scott

You knocked that out of the park. Except for the Belt part, that is.

MLBSF

HUGE thumbs down for posting this baloney on a sports blog. Believe you me.

Michael Scott

Well, in the AL, 3.75 hours…

The Oracle

It’s great to have baseball back. 2hole has just thrown out his ceremonial first shot at Belt. I project a frustrating 2014 for you.

MLBSF

Channelclemente and the rest of its creatures can keep indirectly threatening my life and verbally abusing me, but even that won’t stop me from enjoying one of my best sports days since the Giants won the WS in 2010!!!

What a great an amazing win today by us against the Soviets. Or the Russians. Or whatever they are. Sure we couldn’t win it in regulation which I would have preferred. But it was still great. And it was a joy listening to the best hockey announcer in the NHL (Doc Emerick)!!

It makes up for the speed skater Shani Davis who has just been a disgrace in letting his country down. Let’s hope for a much better week for the United States coming up!!

MLBSF

I for one am not getting all positive about Tubby Sandoval until AFTER he proves he can be a big boy (hopefully not literally) and keep the weight off. He was less fat before and still ballooned up like the Hindenburg.

I’m getting ready for baseball! I think Lindys or some baseball preview magazine I was flipping through today at Barnes & Noble listed the Giants as something like the third best organization in baseball! Pretty good.

Incidentally for all of you people who go to Barnes & Noble and get your Starbucks and plop your big behinds down all over the place. IT IS NOT A LIBRARY. What is wrong with people? Those books are for sale. Not for you to paw through from cover to cover like they are available to check out. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Buy your books and the GO HOME. smh

Foothills Ryan

This is actually a pretty funny post. Keep up the good work. Glad to hear you read books and know about some history.

Foothills Ryan

Typical shaky post here. I take back the part about you being somewhat cultured.

Foothills Ryan

through no great stretch of imagination, 2hole can be synonymous with Ahole.

South City Jim

I remember a brutal series against Colorado in September when the starters were great and the bullpen gave it up in at least two of the three games. One was a walk off by Tulo. Like 2010 and 2012, the 2009 team could have done some damage in the postseason had they made it.

MLBSF

lol @ typical shaky post. smh

ClutchUp

I prefer Keplers in Palo Alto. Did you finish reading your Cosmopolitan at the beauty parlor today?

DrLefty

I’ve pretty much switched over to ereaders–magazines, too–but when we used to have Borders in Davis, I’d occasionally spend an enjoyable hour in there with a latte and a bit of reading. If they didn’t want you to hang out, they wouldn’t have coffee bars and comfy chairs, right? I pretty much did always buy something, though.

DrLefty

CC first mentioned it. We watch it, too. It’s really good!

DrLefty

We’re going to Scottsdale Mar. 8-10, and one of our games is the big league squad vs. the “Giants Future Stars.” One of my favorite things about ST is seeing the prospects, and we’ve learned to carefully plan our dates so that the best ones haven’t been reassigned to minor league camp yet.

Anyway, I’ll be sure to report back!

DrLefty

The brilliantly talented Philip Seymour Hoffman comes to mind. Clean and sober for over 20 years–falls off the wagon and dead within a year or so. And he had everything to live for, including his young children.

DrLefty

Ugghh, that memory is burned into my brain, too. The first of Dusty’s questionable late-season decisions, and unfortunately not the last.

MLBSF

OK my bad Lefty. But I’m mostly referring to the people who look like they’ve moved in and the B&N bookstore is now their livingroom. Books piled all over the place. People hunkering down for the night… smh

pacman68

In the words of Mike Brander from JUST FRIENDS – “You’ll always be fat to me.”

It’s always with the “my bad”. Just watch your tongue in the first place; no one apologizes here more than you.

Bapah

Wavy?

Peter Johnson

I always thought WAR was a STAT that geeks like Brian Kenny made up because they were jealous of the big power hitters that hit HRs and had alot of RBIs. I just read an article on Ryan Howard at ESPN .com,and in the comments a WAR geek said even in his good 2010-2011 seasons with 30 HRs and over 100 RBIs he was only a 1 win player,so I looked up his Stats,and that is what the WAR stat think’s he was. The WAR #’s for Ryan Howards great years when he hit between 45-58 HRs and had between 130-150 RBIs are crazy low,his carrer best WAR is 5.0 in a year he hit 58 HRs had 149 RBIs had a close to .320 AVG ,and a close to 1100 OPS.

Foothills Ryan

as you saw, he would get dinged pretty severely for his defense and baserunning. This reminds me of the Mark Trumbo quandary: 30 HRs, 100 RBIs, less WAR than Gregor Blanco.

My grandfather was the engineer in charge of all the concrete getting pored on the SF side. When it opened, pleasant stroll across, we have a pic at mid-span there might be 20 people. 50 years later… A little more crowded.

2holehitting

Belt is just used for comps like comparig house asking price to reality of sales prices. It is not a diss that some suggest as Belt had overall an inconsistent but fine season last year.

Belt is used to show numbers that people here diss on one yet praise on another when the numbers are actually similar. This while 1 has been injured and the other has been healthy.

Sandoval may not have been in the best of shape and injured in several different ways over the past several year and most of the injuries had nothing to do with his conditioning. However his conditioning was exasperated by his injuries.

Sandoval could be a great player with the right focus. Belt may be a very good player with the time and repetitions.

Call me when belt hist 25 dingers and bats 325 with 1 K every 7.5 at bat in a year

Call me when Belt finally has his career batting average over .295 after 7 years in the Bigs.

Call me when Belt has 3 years in the Bigs hitting above 300 each year.

You guys sure like to rag on a guy who in 7 years in the bigs has hit below 278 1 time and has hit over 300 3 times.

Howard’s WAR, which includes *everything,* might seem low but if you take a look just his offense figure (at Fangraphs ), it’s very reflective of his worth offensively. And that’s where his value lies.
BTW, Blanco offensive number is minus 6.2. Trumbo’s is plus 23.1. also very reflective. IMO.

Foothills Ryan

Good morning GE. It is time to lay out a few more projections. Continuing with the regulars, let’s put the big fellah out there and start today with a very optimistic projection. You know he’s going to have a great year and it will get very interesting when Sabean tries to extend him at the end of season. I think he’s going to exercise more patience at the plate and be a more disciplined hitter. This is reflected in the walk rate. His K rate is relatively low, and when he barrels up the ball, the BABIP goes up. He may find that power stroke and power past this projection. Sometimes good things happen.

Pablo Sandoval: .300/.359/.505, 23 HRs

PA=630, HRs=23, BB%=9, K%=13.5, BABIP=.315

Foothills Ryan

Surprise, surprise, not every single Footy Projection smells like roses. Sometimes they look a lot like one of the computers spit it out based on weighed 3 year averages. Hunter Pence comes down a little in the first year of his contract. His walk rate stays the same, but his K’s increase. Pence has never been a high BABIP guy. But he’s very reliable for a high plate appearance count. I give you the Giants Iron Man.

Hunter Pence: .272/.328/.462, 22 HRs

PA= 670, HRs= 22, BB%= 7.5, K%= 18, BABIP=.305

Michael Scott

Just a question- why no RBI projections?

Foothills Ryan

not my cup of tea. you know, dependent on game states and all that. Pence should have a lot of them with many runners on base. I think the Giants will score many runs in 2014. Pence should come in around 100.

Foothills Ryan

This just in: Buster Posey is a really good hitter. Even with the bad second half, he still hit .294 last year. He’s stronger, Bochy may be able to rest him more often, he doesn’t have to carry the load by himself. That said, catching takes its toll and my projections suppress the power numbers a little bit. He still gets a lot plate appearances for a catcher, look around the league. But Posey is extremely hitterish. He is patient, works the count, puts the ball in play, and uses the whole field with authority.

Buster Posey: .303/.368/.483, 19 HRs

PA= 590, HRs=19, BB%=9.5, K%=13, BABIP=.320

channelclemente

If you watch that old film noir Dark Passage (1947), when Bacall ‘rescues’ Bogart on the two lane road in Mill Valley, she crosses back over the bridge with almost no one on the bridge back into the city.

channelclemente

Episode 5 of 8 tonight, buckle your sat belt. If you like him in this, he’s pretty good in the Lincoln Lawyer movie as well.

DrLefty

I’m going to dial up that movie, I think, having just reacquainted myself with his “A Time to Kill” performance. Should I read the book first?

channelclemente

All of Michael Connelly’s books are good IMO. I don’t think it hurts, although listening on audible is preferable, at least to me.

channelclemente

Don’t hit the bridge abutment, it hurts, I’m told. Try for an artistic water landing.

Peter Johnson

So the GM that paid him 20 million a year,and,Sports writers that gave him MVP votes, should have given that money and MVP votes,to a 1stBaseman with great defence,and speed with a punch and judy bat. Runs win games,and geeks that think RBIs are luck are plain stupid,and Howard was a great RBI hitter. I remmember Tim Lincecum’s 1st MLB start,he was pitching great until Howard took him deep,and broke the game open.

Foothills Ryan

Most of the fun is over. So far, the projections have tilted towards success. Left field does not project to be a smash. But given the offensive production from the rest of the lineup including a nice year for Crawford, whatever happens in left field will not make or break the Giants chances in 2014.

Starting with Blanco. He should get plenty of action in left and some in center. His K rate is his downfall, his walk rate his savior. Too many pop ups and his BABIP is near league average.

Gregor Blanco: .245/.315/.325, 2 HRs

PA= 400, HRs=2, BB%=9.5, K%=19, BABIP=.305

Then there’s big Mike Morse. How healthy/effective will he be? How about 350 PAs worth. He figures to expand the zone batting 7th and generate some thunder.

Mike Morse: .248/.297/.423, 14 HRs

PA=350, HRs=14, BB%=6, K%=24, BABIP=.290

DrLefty

Here are my projections, based on nothing but optimism and feminine intuition: The Giants’ lineup is going to be really good and score a lot of runs. The pitching is going to be way better than expected. Young guys and a midseason acquisition will bolster the bullpen. 90+ wins.

Peter Johnson

When he has not been hurt Morse has hit great the last 4 years,even last year he was leading the AL in HR’s in April with 9 before he was hit in the hand by a pitch and broke a bone in it. Like Posey,Crawford,Scutaro ,who all had hand injuries that messed up good years,the samething happened to Morse,who hurt his wrist trying to compensate for broken finger. I can not believe the posters that can not give this guy a chance before talking like he is a bust.

Agreed, Peter. LF has been a problem ever since the day Melky Cabrera got suspended, and we all knew something needed to change. Morse was a low-risk, high upside signing. As you note, when he’s good, he’s really good, and he already seems like he’s going to be a great fit personality-wise.

The choices were to go with the status quo (Blanco + maybe Perez)–and that didn’t work out so great last year–or to spend $150 mil. and a draft pick on someone like Ellsbury or Choo. I like this option. If it doesn’t work, well, Blanco and Perez are still here.

channelclemente

I cannot wait until you are forced the ‘reflect’ on some of Morse glove work. It will, no doubt titillated your sense of adventure and expand your vocabulary.

DrLefty

Except in the 2010 NLCS when Howard got ZERO RBIs. He still has acid flashbacks about Javi Lopez and a 3-2 pitch from Brian Wilson…

Foothills Ryan

the glove work has a lot to do with the low PA projection.

Foothills Ryan

Could be 🙂 Every reason to believe the offense will be productive. Pitching and defense will determine how far they go.

Michael Scott

“geeks that think RBIs are luck are plain stupid,” No that’s what you think “geeks” think. But I agree with you somewhat- runs win games. But speed and defense also win games and contribute to the outcome-good and bad.
And speaking of remembrances, I have a very fond memory of Mr. Howard- bat on shoulder, taking the last pitch of the 2010 NLCS.

Matthew

You, my friend, are the Schoenfeld of GE! Or, is it the Law? Lemire? Kreskin??

Foothills Ryan

anything but the KLaw. Dude, got my Robben Ford ‘Soul on Ten’ w/ my Jeff Beck Ronnie Scott’s. About time to crank it up. Do you have that Ford live album?

Michael Scott

He’s beyond the Valley of Horrible defensively and it’s entirely reasonable to be skeptical of him playing a full season, since he’s only done it once.

dgg

Pablo is getting all the headlines and attention, but Hector Sanchez quietly lost 20 lbs in the offseason and arrived fit, not overweight, and ready to play. Pretty impressive. This is another plus for the Giants and bodes well for the season.

DrLefty

You mean Hector didn’t tweet and Instagram videos of his two-a-days? 🙂

DrLefty

Part of the reason I’m optimistic right now–besides that it’s, well, February–is the guys seem to have taken the offseason very seriously. Hector, Pablo, and Vogelsong lost weight. Buster and Belt bulked up. People who were injured did their rehab. Position players/leaders like Pence and Pablo are in camp days before they’re required to be. The attitude just seems to be very focused, yet positive.

I also like the mix of veteran leadership with younger players. They have Cain, Posey, and Pence as clear leaders. Add a respected veteran like Hudson, and Scutaro is admired especially by the younger Venezuelans. Yet the team isn’t really old–lots of sub-30 core guys, like Posey, Sandoval, Belt, Crawford, Bum, Cain, Timmy, and Hector. Interestingly, unless Hembree makes the team, there will be no rookies (is Perez still a rookie?).

totalfan62

Looking forward to catching “Dallas Buyers Club” movie on DVD shortly. Lefty gave it a big thumbs up, as I recall, w/special kudos for McConaughey. Should be out within the next 2-3 weeks.

dgg

This made me laugh, Lefty. But I understand how come Pablo had to do that. He needed to let the Giants and his teammates know he was hard at work.

DrLefty

I get it, too. These days social media is part of the deal when you’re communicating with people, and yes–promoting yourself.

I had a book come out just this week, and you bet I put the link and a photo of the cover on Facebook–partly for my mom/siblings/friends, but also because I want people to buy it. 🙂

Michael Scott

Many of the advanced stats are harder to wrap one’s head around, so many don’t bother with them. That’s cool, everybody has stuff they don’t want to spend time on understanding. But because we may not understand something doesn’t mean it’s of no value.. Shortcomings? Any stat taken alone has shortcomings. HRs, RBIs are legit stats but like all stats they don’t paint a total picture. That’s kinda why there a lot of them

Foothills Ryan

Braves are doin’ all sorts of extending. They wrapped up Kimbrel for 4 years and around 45 guaranteed.

Michael Scott

Blanco is sure getting a lot of flak for a guy who might have been about 7 or 8 on the list of those who didn’t work out too well last year. I won’t even count “bang for the buck”.

channelclemente

An unanticipated event for managers next year with replay review, when to and not to challenge.

Ah, 2hole–your blind love for Pablo is admirable, but also full of holes. Pablo’s lack of conditioning and sub-par production was a substantial factor in our down year. Yeah, Pablo’s going to take his deserved criticism from us, just as he took it from the team leaders. There is no denying that. Had to know the rip on Belt was coming–you are nothing if not consistent. Belt is an ascending young player under team control for four more years. I think most if not all balanced Giants fans would agree he is a substantial asset who will continue to put up solid numbers and play Gold Glove defense. Picking holes in his game is petty. Most of us really like both Belt and Pablo–it doesn’t have to be either/or.

Can you give me 1 example of Morse losing playing time for poor defence in the Outfield ? He makes all the routine plays teams have asked him to make, you just like 4th and 5th Outfielders that can not hit,but are fast, corner Outfielders are suposed to hit, not be offensively challanged.

I have no problem with Blanco,he is what he is a 4th outfielder, and to think he is anything more is just wrong. He was a temp starter for the Giants, and for a speed guy,he is a bad baserunner who gets picked off way to much.

Foothills Ryan

Ryan Dempster will not pitch in 2014. Will not take salary either, freeing up 13.5 mil for Red Sox.

These are the splits that matter because of sample size issues for individual hitters. These are the numbers that managers use. So if a guy like Brandon Belt doesn’t have split differences, Bochy may still plug in a Posey or sometimes Morse to combat the tough lefty on the hill.

Foothills Ryan

Peter? Where’s Paul? How about BAPah?

channelclemente

But that’s not what the article is ultimately about.

channelclemente

Do spring training team records tell you much about a teams prospects for the season…maybe.

I dunno, ask Peter. To quote a character in a mob show, Mary is “walking on the wrong side of the grass.”

Foothills Ryan

Then it’s time to write a narrative around those numbers 😉

Foothills Ryan

Upon further scrutiny -> LHP really hamper LHH, which makes some sense given # of LHP’s and platoons.

channelclemente

Glean what you will.

Michael Scott

Neither you nor I know the exact number, but it’s absurd to think he hasn’t been pulled for defensive purposes (late with a lead). Maybe you should ask Bochy your question, he’s been crystal clear on his intent to do just that.

totalfan62

Braves were very quiet in the off-season but are now very active in signing their younger players. Freeman (8yrs/$136MM) feels like an overpay to me, but no doubt he is a very good young player. Kimbrel and Teheran deals both good market value and good for the Braves. Heyward 2-year deal gives him a chance to prove his worth. All deals most likely back loaded to take advantage of projected increased revenue when the Braves move to their new stadium in 2017.

Michael Scott

Read my post again- he’s way down of the list of who failed last year. Yet he’s been trashed all winter long. If you didn’t, good on you.

2holehitting

Hector should become the everyday catcher, Move Posey to first and Belt to left.

2holehitting

1:Lincecum

2: Vogelsong

3: Zito

4: Affeldt

5: Crawford

6: Scutero

7:Posey

8: Sandoval

9: Blanco

What were people expecting of Gregor? 290 with 35 steals?
15-20 homers? No you got a great glove and a 260 streaky hitter.

Michael Scott

Well, I’m about to go to WAR with another ant battalion. I’ll be back later to do some BAPIPPING.

2holehitting

So your basically calling for Pablo to be healthy and bat to his card for his plate appearances. How is that optimistic? The walk rate is up a little the K rate is his 1 in 7.5 appearances. The HR is 3 more than the 20 he normally averages in those plate appearances and his average is 2 points about his career.

Absolutely! Love that movie. My other grandpa had a flat up above Kezar that was a total time warp to the 1930s. Sam Spade coulda lived there.

ClutchUp

Alex has a new Post

DrLefty

Wonder if they go after Ubaldo or Santana. Their draft pick is really low, anyway, and they’ll get at least one comp pick for Ellsbury and maybe another for Drew. Just swap out Dempster’s $13.5 for one of them. Either would be more worth that money than 36-year-old Dempster, probably.

DrLefty

Right. Farrell (the current Red Sox manager) is #1. Francona (the former Red Sox manager) is #3. Perfectly objective reporting and analysis from a Boston Globe writer. Ol’ Nick just went down a notch in my esteem.

DrLefty

I like Hector, always have. Hope this is a big year for him. I really believe his ability to back up Posey competently was an important factor in the 2012 season.

Matheny up pretty high, too–he’s really done a great job, taking over a World Series winner and succeeding a HOF manager. Joe Girardi really was amazing last year–all those injuries and Arod nonsense and no rotation and the Yankees STILL won 85 games (reminds me of the Giants somehow winning 86 with no offense whatsoever in 2011).

As for Farrell–props on a great season, but you have to have more than one before you’re at the very TOP of the list.

DrLefty

This would be my list:
1. Cain (turned it around the last two months, but he was supposed to be the ace. His rocky first half really hurt the team.)
2. Vogelsong (ineffective and injured). They were counting on him.
3. Posey (power outage the second half)
4. Scutaro (a defensive liability and then injured)
5. Sandoval (out of shape, bad defensively, underachieved at the plate)
6. Pence. Yes, Pence. Remember how he barely hit for two months while the Giants were falling out of the race?
7. Affeldt
8. Hector–out of shape and injured
9. Blanco–overexposed

Also: Pagan’s injury turned out to be a big deal. They played much better with him than without him last year.

DrLefty

I like Blanco, and used properly, I think he’s a terrific asset on this team. But he’s not an everyday player. He’s just not. For defense and for 300-350 ABs–fabulous.

channelclemente

Then you probably love Out of the Past, as well. Filmed over in the Sierra foothills.

AlOha44

Whoa, whoa, whoa. While it is true that it may be a li’l misplaced, mere lunchmeat it is NOT.

AlOha44

So while “flipping through” Lindy’s or some baseball preview magazine, did you BUY it or put it back on the rack?
If not, then “all of you people” with the big behinds, includes YOU, too?

Marty

what I like about these guys, is they look like they enjoy hanging out with each other. That translates to great team chemistry once the game begins.